Wednesday, May 18, 2011

64th Cannes Film Festival (2011) Report

The 64th Cannes Film Festival is now over, and many of 2011's most highly anticipated films have had their premieres. Let's take a look at some of the early reviews and images from the Festival de Cannes 2011.

The hallowed Red Stairs at the Palais des Festivals

Day 1 - Wednesday, May 11

Opening Ceremony

64th Cannes Film Festival competition film jury

Uma Thurman towers over everyone as the official competition jury poses on the famous red carpet at the Palais des Festivals. Also in the jury are Robert De Niro, Jude Law, Olivier Assayas, Martina Gusman, Johnnie To, Nansun Shi, Linn Ullmann, and Mahamat Saleh Haroun.

Opening Film, Out of CompetitionMidnight In Paris (2011), Woody Allen

Woody Allen, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams

"This supernatural comedy isn't just Allen's best film in more than a
decade; it's the only one that manages to rise above its tidy parable
structure and be easy, graceful, and glancingly funny, as if buoyed by
its befuddled hero's enchantment." - David Edelstein (New York Magazine)

"Midnight in Paris might not sing like Bullets Over Broadway or sizzle like Vicky Cristina Barcelona but Allen's directing is quietly affectionate, and the film ultimately becomes another valentine to heedless idealism." - John Lopez (Vanity Fair)

"Ms Ramsay sabotages her refined visual style with the bluntness of her
storytelling, washing the screen with red and turning Kevin into a demon
child of near-parodic proportions" - Manohla Dargis (New York Times)

"Restless is an almighty dud. Van Sant crashes back to Earth
with a tasteless and whimsical riff on teen romance and death in which
he tries to recast the American suburbs as a fairytale world in which
passion, imagination and a love of nature can counter the debilitating
effects of cancer and grief." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"So successful has Gus Van Sant been in trying to make films with teen
appeal that the 58-year-old has now started making movies resembling the
work of film-school students" - Kaleem Aftab (The Independent)

Day 3 - Friday, May 13

Competition FilmWe Have A Pope / Habemus Papam (2011), Nanni Moretti

Screenshot from Nanni Moretti's We Have A Pope

"The big problem with Habemus Papum is that Piccoli (historically a
wonderful and charming performer) just looks shell-shocked every minute.
There's no texture to the performance." - Stephanie Zacharek (Movieline)

"Like much of Moretti's work (the Palme d'Or-winning The Son's Room being the main exception), Habemus Papum is slight but amusing, and often oddly touching. We got us a decent time-killer." - Mike D'Angelo (AV Club)

Competition FilmPolisse (2011), Maïwenn

Polisse Actress/Director Maïwenn on the Red Steps

"Like a whole season of The Wire packed into a single two-hour-plus film, Poliss covers
much ground, and even with its loose threads and frenzied structure, it
convincingly jumps from laughter to tears and back again, never losing
sight of the brutal realities at its core." - Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter)

"All too often, the cast look like drama students put into some sort of
group improv workshop and told to think themselves into the role of
stressed cops." - Peter Bradshaw (Guardian [UK])

"Bursting with light and color, and a torrent of martial arts action both
swift and savage (arguably the best that lead actor Donnie Yen has
choreographed for years), "Wu Xia" is coherently developed and stylishly
directed by Peter Ho-Sun Chan to provide unashamedly pleasurable
popular entertainment." - Maggie Lee (Reuters)

"Channeling David Cronenberg's A History of Violence
by way of 1917 China, this clever if over-amped thriller tackles themes
of identity, honor and the latent killer instinct with a playful spirit
that's never at odds with its underlying seriousness" - Justin Chang (Variety)

Day 4 - Saturday, May 14

Out of CompetitionPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011), Rob Marshall

Penelope Cruz and Johnny Depp reunited.

"One can't help but feel that the Disney-Depp partnership has taken the
series as far as it can go in this form, and short of a large-scale
overhaul of the franchise, it may be best to set these particular
Pirates adrift for good." - Chris Tilly (IGN Movies)

"Although arguably a slightly mannered film, this has something that
audiences yearn for, whether at festivals or the multiplex: a really
good story." - Peter Bradshaw (Guardian [UK])

"Footnote is the film I've enjoyed most at the festival so far. It's a
serious farce with significant issues on its mind, a film that invites
both laughter and reflection as it seamlessly changes tones from comic
to dramatic." - Kenneth Turan (LA Times)

Competition FilmMichael (2011), Markus Schleinzer

Christine Kain, David Rauchenberger, Markus Schleinzer, Michael Fuith

"Illustrating the banality of evil in an impressively controlled and sometimes darkly humorous fashion, Michael takes a coolly nonjudgmental, non-psychological approach to a
disturbing topic, spending five months in the life of a 30-ish pedophile
who keeps a 10-year-old boy locked in his basement" - Alissa Simon (Variety)

"Those who find the cruel-to-be-kind cine-anthropology of Haneke, the obvious influence here, will have conniption
fits five minutes into the story, and though it's an easy film to
admire, it's a damned hard film to like." - David Fear (Time Out New York)

"After the slightly sub-par Lorna's Silence
(2008), the brothers are back on peerless form with this story of
innocence betrayed and befriended, which must count as one of the best
films about childhood since Kes — or for that matter Bicycle Thieves, to which it surely nods." - Jonathan Romney (Screen Daily)

"It's hard not to like "The Kid with a Bike," and yet I missed some of
the edge that the Dardennes brothers usually bring to a film. This one
is a bit too much like a fairy tale, not that you don't want to believe
it." - Barbara Scharres (Chicago Sun Times)

Competition FilmThe Artist (2011), Michel Hazanavicius

Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo and Michel Hazanavicius

"Feature-length, knowing recreations of past genres can often be tiresome after the initial novelty has worn off, and yet The Artist manages to keep up the same level of charm as its lead actor, Dujardin, throughout. Best of all, The Artist
never feels like a parody or a good idea that becomes laborious in the
execution. It's lovingly corny, great fun, good-looking and respectful." - Dave Calhoun (Time Out London)

"By the end, it's all you can do not to cheer on the seemingly
star-crossed lovers and not to sigh about how they don't make films like
this anymore. Except, of course, Hazanavicius just has." - Sukhdev Sandhu (Telegraph [UK])

"This marvelous
'painting' would only be a feast for the eyes if it did not value the
remarkable actresses whose performances are testament to the meticulous
care with which the director highlights them." - Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa)

"What makes this film stand out is its lyrical cinematography and costume design (courtesy of Anaïs Romand) that create a lush claustrophobia highlighting the golden cage these high-class prostitutes of yore lived in." - Deborah Young (The Hollywood Reporter)

Competition FilmThe Tree of Life (2011), Terrence Malick

Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life

"Few American filmmakers are as alive to the splendor of the natural
world as Terrence Malick, but even by his standards, The Tree of Life
represents something extraordinary." - Justin Chang (Variety)

"Brandishing an ambition it's likely no film, including this one, could entirely fulfill, The Tree of Life
is nonetheless a singular work, an impressionistic metaphysical inquiry
into mankind's place in the grand scheme of things that releases waves
of insights amidst its narrative imprecisions." - Todd McCarthy (The Hollywood Reporter)

Un Certain Regard FilmHors Satan (2011), Bruno Dumont

Alexandra Lamatre and David Dewaele in Bruno Dumont's Hors Satan

"Dumont's drama is grounded in everyday concrete reality. Lead actors
who initially seem uncommunicative, even unappealing, prove
idiosyncratically compelling in a film that sees Dumont stripping his
style to the bones, with echoes of his 1997 debut The Life of Jesus." - Jonathan Romney (Screen Daily)

"Maddening, pretentious, hypnotic and transcendent in roughly equal
measure, Dumont's minimalist study of an oddball poacher and the farm
girl who keeps him company contains only a dozen 'dramatic' events, but
they all register indelibly, such is the director's talent for making
the minor appear momentous — and maybe religious" - Rob Nelson (Variety)

Day 7 - Tuesday, May 17

Competition FilmLe Havre (2011), Aki Kaurismäki

Director Aki Kaurismäki

"In its portrait of a storybook burg protecting its own, "Le Havre"
acknowledges an increasingly global village while turning a new leaf for
Kaurismaki. In his previous pictures, if a character said, "I'm not
alone. I've got friends," as Marcel does here, it'd simply be a matter
of time before Fate's cruel hand turned that sentiment to ash. Not here.
I might be wrong, but expect a prize or two for "Le Havre" come Sunday
and the closing-night." - Michael Phillips (Chicago Tribune)

"A political film that eschews politicking, a comedy with a serious
point, and imbued with a deep, emotional core, the latest from the
Finnish director received hearty applause from the critics at Cannes and
now matches The Artist for the biggest, most rousing crowd-pleaser of the festival" - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

Competition FilmPater (2011), Alain Cavalier

Michel Sedoux, Alain Cavalier, Vincent Lindon

"Cavalier and Vincent Lindon get all meta as they construct an absurd
political narrative where they are elected president and prime minister
of France, respectively. Paradox and contradiction become supporting
characters in this pretentious landslide of irony." - Glenn Heath Jr. (Slant)

"Occasionally droll and engaging, this often opaque venture ultimately
disappears up its own meta-cinematic derrière, and is unlikely to appeal
outside a hardcore coterie of Francophile lovers of experiment." - Jonathan Romney (Screen Daily)

Out of CompetitionThe Beaver (2011), Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster, director of The Beaver

"Gibson and the baggage he brings along with him on this regret and
redemption tale make "The Beaver" an often moving and always disturbing
film." - Roger Moore (Orlando Sentinel)

"That this ambitious, if deeply odd, film is so compulsively
watchable is a credit to Gibson's compelling performances, both as
spiritless Walter and the Cockney-accented voice of the tireless title
character." - Carrie Rickey (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Day 8 - Wednesday, May 18

Competition FilmMelancholia (2011), Lars Von Trier

Kirsten Dunst, Lars Von Trier, Charlotte Gainsbourg

"Melancholia is the work of a man whose slow emergence from
personal crisis has resulted in a moving masterpiece, marked by an
astonishing profundity of vision" - Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly)

"Easily the most restrained film the director has made since Europa. Essentially shock free, the operatic, three act film plays more like an Ingmar Bergman
chamber piece than anything else and the biggest surprise the film
packs is just how contemplative Von Trier is this time around." - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"Like all of Kawase’s fiction films, Hanezu prostrates itself reverently
before the majesty of Nature, emphasizing how humans are inseparable
from their habitat. Her visuals are as pure and clear as spring water
and more awe-inspiring than ever." - Maggie Lee (Hollywood Reporter)

"Shot on handheld digital, with a wistfully melancholic string
soundtrack, this is one of those films that washes quite pleasantly over
one’s head. But in the end, it feels like an in-between project for the
prolific Kawase." - Lee Marshall (Screen Daily)

"An entertainingly preposterous story which is nudged even further along by Almodovar's trademark gender preoccupations" - Fionnuala Halligan (Screen Daily)

"Almodóvar brings something hypnotic to the surgery-porn aesthetic of
his operating theatre of cruelty: the latex, the scrubs, the cold steel,
the exquisite yet appalling contrast between wounds and young flesh. It
is twisted and mad, and its choreography and self-possession are
superb." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian[UK])

"He's still best known for pushing the limits of taste with stomach-churners like Ichi the Killer and Audition, but it's films like Ichimei that have established him as one of Japan's most consummate filmmaking luminaries." - Adam Woodward (Little White Lies)

"If Hara-kiri is inevitably less satisfying than 13 Assassins, it's because it not only lacks that film's sustained
virtuosity but also takes a more reverent approach to its source; it's
possible to admire Miike's newfound classical restraint while also
wishing he'd put a more singular stamp on the material." - Justin Chang (Variety)

Day 10 - Friday, May 20

Competition FilmThis Must Be The Place (2011), Paolo Sorrentino

Judd Hirsch, Paolo Sorrentino, Sean Penn, and Eve Hewson

"This Must Be the Place – starring Sean Penn
as Cheyenne, a retired goth rocker living in Dublin has superbly
elegant and distinctive forms: looming camera movements, bursts of pop,
deadpan comedy, quasi-hallucinatory perspective lines in landscapes in
which singular figures look vulnerably isolated." - Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian [UK])

"It's flawed and some will dismiss it. But he's provided a memorable
role for one of the best actors of our time, a role that allows Penn to
dig deep but also giggle and even offer a tip about how to keep lipstick
fresh all day long." - Michael Glitz (The Huffington Post)

Competition FilmDrive (2011), Nicolas Winding Refn

Ryan Gosling, Nicholas Winding Refn

There are moments when the nocturnal shots of Los Angeles bring to mind
superior crime fare, but there's no substance to all the flash. As for
any emotional heft regarding the protagonist's feelings for Carey Mulligan's
simpering heroine, forget it: all the smiling stares meant to convey
their growing interest in one another soon become tiresome, so that his
self-sacrifice feels futile and meaningless." - Geoff Andrew (Time Out London)

"You can make a case that Drive is here because action cinema
and genre cinema are too important and too exciting, enthralling and,
yes, artful when well-made to be merely dismissed as suitable only for
hacks to make and dolts to watch. French enthusiasm for American crime
cinema from the 40s and 50s gave us the vocabulary and value set to
truly appreciate film noir and anyone who can truly appreciate film
noir will appreciate Drive." - Kevin Jagernauth (The Playlist)

"Beautifully photographed amongst the harsh light of the dry, desert landscapes, The Source frequently feels like a musical and the women constantly burst into song as a way of expressing their feelings and grievances." - Allan Hunter (Screen Daily)

"Never one for subtlety, the writer-director tosses everything he can
into this two-hour-plus humanist couscous, stirring in a mix of songs,
sentiments and socio-religious questions set beneath breathtaking North
African landscapes, and carried by a strong central performance from
actress Leila Bekhti." - Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter)

"Both beautiful and beautifully observed, with a delicate touch and flashes of humor and horror, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, is an ambitious, leisurely inquiry into a specific world that transcends borders." - Manohla Dargis (New York Times)

"The structure of his images is no less than striking, his use of the
Anatolian landscape, breathtaking with the obscurity reigning over the
first half helping to enhance his particular talent for lighting
interiors, and even more, human faces." - Dan Fainaru (Screen Daily)

"In the Honoré tradition, it’s not afraid of overstating its emotions — like Love Songs, it blends musical numbers into the narrative a la The Umbrellas of Cherbourg — which isn’t the sort of thing that too many American directors (save, perhaps, John Turturro) would even attempt these days." - Stephanie Zacharek (Movieline)

"There is pleasure in hearing the terrific actors lay open their hearts
through the downbeat music and lyrics, and, by the time Deneuve strolls
through the Paris streets in her Vivier pumps, singing through tears and
revisiting her reckless youth, Honore achieves a lovely evocation of
the star in Cherbourg, mourning the loss of l’homme de sa vie." - Mike Goodrich (Screen Daily)

Which of these films are you most looking forward to seeing in the coming months?

I've been following the festival and so far, it's been exciting. The films I'm dying to see that isn't "The Tree of Life", "The Kid with a Bike", or "Melancholia" are "The Artist" and "Sleeping Beauty". I'm surprised by the reaction towards "Restless" since Gus Van Sant is one of my favorite directors yet seeing that it's just like what the trailer suggests has me worried. I guess if it's playing at my local multiplex, I'll watch with very low expectations.

Lars von Trier's comments... all I can say is... HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA.

Seriously, I don't take anything he says seriously to begin with. "I'm a Nazi". Come on! I prefer to let his work speak for himself. Love your blog by the way.

Thanks thevoid99. Yeah Von Trier was quite funny, but Aki Kaurismaki yesterday was even more hilarious. Check out the Le Havre, photocall, interview, and press conference if you haven't seen them already.

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